The present invention is related to implantable medical devices, and in particular to a cardiac arrest and/or sleep apnea monitoring devices capable of detecting aberrant behavior and/or implementing corrective action in relation to a detected aberrant behavior.
A large number of people suffer from obesity and/or heart disease. In these people, it is common to find heightened respiratory discomfort and shortness of breath during periods of sleep. In addition, these people often experience breathing characterized by rhythmic waxing and waning of the depth of respiration with regularly recurring periods of apnea, clinically described as Cheyne-stokes breathing.
In general, there are two kinds of sleep related apnea that are associated with heart disease. First, central sleep apnea is the most common type found and is probably caused by heart failure. This type of apnea may be developed after a heart attack and is usually a contributing factor to heart failure. During central sleep apnea, patients stop breathing and begin to suffocate causing them to wake-up. The awakening jolts their heart muscles into action when they should be resting and thus the jolting action puts stress on the heart.
The other type of sleep related apnea is obstructive sleep apnea and may contribute to heart failure. Obstructive sleep apnea is commonly found in people with oversized necks. Such people are typically overweight and suffer from snoring. Muscle tone keeps the throat open during the day, but at night the weight of the oversized neck narrows the airway. As a result, the tongue falls back closing the airway. The person struggles to breath against the collapsed throat as if choking. This breathing effort can put an additional strain on the heart.
Excessive pressure on the heart can be created during periods of apnea. These excessive pressures can be particularly problematic for patients already suffering from heart disease. In some cases, these excessive pressu3res can cause heart attack and/or death. Accordingly, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced respiratory and/or heart function detection, and/or systems and methods for intervention where aberrant behavior is detected.